Chazz's monsters
by DonnerEngel
Summary: [AU in which Chazz's brothers are actually the Grimm brothers] Chazz had never really cared about his brothers' occupation. To him, it was all just an imaginary dreamworld. Little does he know, he is about to be a part of that world and it's not at all what he thought it would be like.
1. Chapter 1

**So... I'm not dead, obviously.**

 **Sorry for this long span of not uploading anything! I was really busy with some stuff, I still am tbh but I finally wanted to get back to writing.**

 **This chapter feels super rushed, so if I'm going to edit it again, don't be surprised, but for now I'm satisfied with how it turned out.**

 **Chazz is somewhat sassy, but eh, I think it's fine. Also, I had an inspiration for this story from a certain manga.**

 **Please enjoy!**

* * *

When Chazz first came to, there was nothing but darkness surrounding him, which was weird because he was sure he'd had his curtains open the previous night.

Sure, he usually didn't sleep more than six hours per day, mostly because his brothers insisted on dragging him with them to important meetings at no later than 5:30 in the morning, but even then there was at least some kind of lightning... Not this absolute darkness that he was being greeted with now.

Was he still dreaming? Or... wait, he wasn't dead, right?

No, that was silly.

He was still young and healthy, so he probably had a lifespan of about seventy to eighty years left and he also couldn't have been murdered in his sleep because he was pretty sure he would have noticed if someone had been trying to kill him.

So that only left the dreaming option, huh?

Well, either that or it was some magical crap going on again with some guy who wanted to take over the world for stupid reasons.

If he were to pick one of these options, he'd prefer the dreaming option over this one.

His life was already stressful enough as it was even without someone turning him into a mindless puppet like last year.

There were some charity organisations he publicly had to give money to in order to make it seem like his family gave a shit about them -which they didn't, he knew his brothers well enough by now- and there was also a pile of paperwork on his desk that desperately wanted to be attended to.

Jeez, and he thought he could finally relax from the whole world saving stuff during the holidays. But no, why should he be allowed to rest?

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Since he was dreaming, he should be able to wake himself up by pinching his arm or something, right?

He tried to get his hand to move, yet only succeeded in making his wrists hurt as something cut into them deeper at the movement.

Shit, shit, shit, what was that? Why couldn't he move his arm?

It was the second option, wasn't it? Some magical crap happening?

He yanked at the thing holding his wrists together, inhaling sharply when something that felt like a thorn pierced his skin. Okay, so this was some kind of plant serving as a makeshift rope.

It wasn't just a lose piece of a plant either, as Chazz shifted a bit to the side, he felt the tendril or whatever it was scrape his arm, so it was definitely connected to the rest of the plant.

He tested if he could move at all, but his feet were held down on the ground beneath him, presumably by another tendril, preventing him from even taking a step and leaving him in an uncomfortable standing position.

Huh.

He just now realized he was indeed standing instead of lying on the ground as he'd assumed he would.

Then again, it was kind of hard to tell where up and down or left and right were if everything around you was so dark that you couldn't see a thing, meaning you could hardly blame him for not noticing sooner, right?

He began drawing a deep breath, urging himself to stay calm.

It was no big deal, he'd been in captivity before when Amnael had locked him in a bubble outside of earth, so it really shouldn't bother him that much. Well, aside from the fact that it bothered him to be the damsel in distress once again, just waiting for Jaden to sweep in and save him.

Great.

Where was he, anyway? Chazz hadn't seen him once during the holidays which was unusual, given how Jaden loved to stop by at his mansion for a snack -more like five-course meal, but whatever- when his brothers weren't there.

Honestly, it was like a ritual by now, so of course he had grown suspicious when Jaden had failed to show up this holiday.

Had something happened to him? Maybe he was also around here somewhere?

''Jaden?'', he called out, but he received no answer from the dark void around him, at least not at first. Because as soon as he sighed in frustration, there was a light chuckle from not too far in front of him, making him tense up all over again.

''Who's there?''

''You wouldn't know me even if I told you'', the voice stated matter-of-factly before pausing suddenly. ''Or... did they tell you?''

''They?'' Chazz clenched and unclenched his hands in order to keep them from going numb.

Was it really necessary for his bonds to be so tight?

''Let me rephrase my question... Do you know why you're here?''

Was he supposed to?

He didn't have a goddamn clue and the lack of light was still pissing him off because he couldn't see who he was talking to.

''No, how about you explain it to me? And maybe flick on the light switch while you're at it?''

The voice snickered. ''Trying to keep up a brave front by making jokes, are we?''

Chazz shrugged even though the person probably couldn't see it anyway.

''I'm not trying to keep up a brave front, I've simply been through worse than this, so it doesn't really affect me.''

''I don't think you understand what kind of situation you're in.''

The person seemed to approach him, yet there was something in the way they walked that made the black haired boy think he wasn't conversing with a regular human being.

The clatter that sounded with each step reminded him of an animals' hooves on the cement ground, more specifically a horse or something along those lines.

If he'd had even an ounce of respect for the voice before for managing to capture him, it was gone now, only to be replaced with utter disbelief and shame that he'd let a horse kidnap him.

''Do you, Chazz?'', horse-thing asked, more forcefully, as it came to a stop right in front of him.

''I already told you, no. What do you want to hear from me? And what even are you? A horse?''

''Not quite. I'm a creature of darkness, capable of taking on every form I wish.''

A sudden gust of wind made Chazz shiver and before he could comprehend what was happening, the creature grabbed his shirt with a hand that was seemingly radiating iciness. ''But to get back to the matter, you're here because I want your heart.''

Wow, that was his first time ever hearing these words and it was not even in the context he would have liked it to be in.

If Alexis had said this to him, he would have happily replied that she had always been in possession of his heart, but what was he supposed to do when someone used this phrase literally?

''Too bad because I need my heart'', he explained, voice raised slightly higher than he would have liked to.

But for the record, he definitely wasn't scared.

Just... mildly inconvenienced.

''Too bad because I'm taking it anyway.''

The cold hand let go off his shirt for a second, only to return with something sharp between its fingers that was placed lightly against Chazz's chest.

It wasn't painful yet, since there was still some kind of barrier given with his shirt, but he still felt his heart accelerate in fea-... uh, inconvenience. Not fear.

He wasn't going to get out of here unwounded.

Scratch that, he wasn't even going to survive this.

He wasn't scared though. Why should he?

''And what do you get from it?'' He tried leaning back as far as he could to get away from the advancing sharp thing -a knife probably- but of course he didn't get very far.

Alright, maybe he was more than mildly inconvenienced by now. The fact that he couldn't see anything for the life of him was really putting a lot of extra stress on his nerves.

''What I get from it?'' The knife pressed down on his shirt with such a force that it went right through it, the metal touching Chazz's skin and sending an enormous adrenaline rush through his entire body. ''Why don't you ask those brothers of yours?''

* * *

 _Thank you for reading! I hope to see you in chapter 2!_


	2. Chapter 2

**More exposition, hooray~**

 **Also, this update was kinda quick, yay for me!**

 **Please enjoy!**

* * *

''Come on, doc, I promise I'm fine!'', Jaden complained, pouting at the doctor who was currently taking the usual daily blood sample from him.

He had done so for the past week just to make sure Jaden wouldn't relapse again, which he unfortunately had a record of doing.

For the whole time he'd been at the hospital though, he hadn't even thought about it once, so in his opinion he was ready to return home again.

''I'm sorry, but until you've been clean for a month, we can't account for releasing you, Jaden.''

Same excuse as always. Of course.

A month didn't seem like a very long time at first, but with nothing to do in this damn hospital besides watching boring reality TV shows and reading his roommate's books, the doctor might as well have told him he was going to spend a lifetime here.

Frustrated, he leaned back in his bed and crossed his arms behind his head while he waited for the doctor to leave.

It would probably be much less boring if someone actually visited him here, but then again, he didn't want his friends to know about... well, _the thing_ that he had had.

He was embarrassed enough as it was about it and seeing his parents' disappointed gazes had only added to that humiliation.

'You could have died of overdose!', his dad had shouted, seemingly at the top of his lungs and his mom had just looked away which was in itself somehow worse than being scolded.

Maybe she had assumed that it was partly their fault for never being at home and properly caring for their son, however, Jaden -being the kind-hearted person he was- would never hold that against his parents.

Ever.

It was just a stupid mistake he had made in a moment of weakness.

Several moments of weakness actually.

But that didn't matter anymore because he had been clean for eleven straight days and it would stay that way.

No problem.

''Have a pleasant day, I'll be back in the morning'', Doctor What's-his-face said, making Jaden growl inwardly.

He would have probably said something along the lines of ''Pleasant day my ass'' if he'd opened his mouth, so instead he simply smiled and waved goodbye at the doctor.

Wow, he was becoming really passive aggressive these days.

Must be Chazz rubbing off on him.

As soon as the door fell closed, he turned to his roommate's side of the room, pondering if his attention span would be long enough to read one of the thicker fantasy novels.

He already read all of the short ones and most of the medium length ones, so he was running out of options.

He could always just take a nap, but even sleeping began to annoy him since it would completely screw his sleeping pattern and cause him to wake up in the dead of the night, having nothing to do all over again.

Plus, his roommate snored so obnoxiously loud that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep afterwards.

The other boy wasn't actually here at the moment because, contrary to Jaden, he was allowed to roam around Domino freely.

The only rule he had to obey was that he had to return in the evening since the doctors wanted to monitor some illness that exclusively occurred at night and made him scream bloody murder, mainly at the brunette boy he shared a room with.

He'd asked several times about the illness already, but ended up forgetting it after a while.

There was only so much space in his brain for cardgames and polymerization summons, everything else just sort of disappeared from his memory.

Just like the name of the guy he was sharing the room with.

He would have asked, but the thing was, he had already forgotten the name four times, making it really awkward to interact with the boy.

It was probably easier if he just referred to him as 'The Roommate'.

Speaking of, he seemed to be returning already if the irritating humming down the corridor was anything to go by and sure enough, the door opened to reveal his cheerful looking roommate with two enormous bags in his hands that were most likely stuffed full of dolls.

It was like some weird obsession that he had. Every time he went outside, he returned with more dolls to put on the shared table in the room.

Jaden could swear they moved when no one was looking due to the fact that each morning their gazes were aimed straight at him despite nobody having touched them.

Creepy.

''Hey Jaden, had a good day so far?''

''Great'', he answered with only a tad of sarcasm, watching The Roommate put his newest purchases on the table.

A girl doll with pink hair, a creepy smile and equally creepy eyes, a wool knife in her hand and a cutesy uniform.

The damn thing had _Yandere_ written all over it.

Not literally, but you get the idea.

The second doll was male, although it was hard to tell because of its long silver hair and soft face that could have easily made it seem like a girl.

It was wearing an old-fashioned outfit with glass shoes and hade a sword in its hand. An interpretation of a male Cinderella maybe?

It certainly had its charm... in a way.

And The Roommate, as far as Jaden was aware, also had a soft spot for fairy tales, so aquiring this doll must have been a huge success for him.

The Yandere doll was still creepy though, so when The Roommate picked it up again to pull on a string and it suddenly said 'Yukkii!', he almost got a heart attack.

This was going to keep him awake at night.

''How cool is that?!'', he exclaimed, shoving the doll in Jaden's face.

Jaden smiled uneasily, trying to mask how creeped out he was. ''Yeah, pretty cool indeed. Where'd you get it?''

''In a shop next to the Grimm Convention that's being held today.''

Grimm Convention.

He could almost imagine Chazz's brothers sitting behind a desk and signing autographs for some young children who were happily clutching a fairy tale book.

''I also got something from the Grimm Convention itself!'' He rummaged through his bag until he got his hands on an old book which he pulled out to show the brunette.

It had a leather binding and the lettering _Grimm's fairy tales_ was written in old, curvy letters that went over the entire cover.

It was urging him to touch it, so he hesitantly reached out and gently ran his hand over the letter _G_.

 _''Kuri!''_

The sudden voice startled him, especially since he knew for a fact that his deck was back at home and he stumbled back.

The Roommate tilted his head in confusion.

''Jaden? Everything alright?''

Jaden didn't hear him, he was already curiously searching the room for his duel spirit. Why was it here?

''Winged Kuriboh?'' He spotted it in the open door frame where it flew in circles, obviously very restless about something.

When it met his gaze, it stopped what it was doing to let out another 'Kuri' sound.

''Follow you?'', the brunette repeated and made his way over to Winged Kuriboh. ''Why? What's the matter?''

 _''Kuri! Kuri Kuri!''_

No way.

''Chazz is WHERE?!''


	3. Chapter 3

**I took way too long, I apologize.**

 **On with the story!**

* * *

Escaping the hospital was actually easier than he would have assumed.

Nobody asked questions as he rushed past them towards the exit and even the receptionist didn't seem to recognize him or if he did didn't interfere with Jaden's plan to get out of here.

The doctor as well as his parents would be worried and angry above all, but he didn't care, he had other priorities right now.

He stepped out into the cool evening, immediately regretting not taking his jacket as a strong breeze hit him.

Still, he couldn't go back and lose any more time, so he set off down the street towards Chazz's mansion.

How he planned to get in, he didn't know, but he would manage somehow.

Winged Kuriboh was several blocks ahead of him, turning around every now and then to make sure he was still there and keeping up before letting out an impatient noise telling him to hurry.

''Jeez, calm down! If I could fly, I'm sure I would be faster, but guess what? I can't!''

A few people on the street gave him a weird look as he seemingly shouted at the air, but thankfully, none of them pressed the matter and they all went back to caring about their own business while he ran past them.

There were a few close calls with cars that completely ignored the emergency situation he was in and would have surely hit him if he hadn't been as fast, but he made it to the mansion in less than ten minutes.

This was half the time it usually took for him to get there, so naturally, he was more than out of breath when he arrived, yet no matter how desperately his body begged for a pause, he wouldn't give into it.

As he'd established before, he had other priorities.

His gaze trailed up the pure white frontage which made him just the tiniest bit jealous, but he suppressed it, beginning to walk around the front garden, looking for a possibility to enter the mansion.

There were no open windows, unfortunately, like there always were in movies and he bit his lip, considering the option of breaking one.

It would attract unnecessary noise, that was for sure, and if the neighbors saw anything, they would call the police and if Chazz's brothers returned to the mansion, they would-

 _Kuri!_

Winged Kuriboh gave him a look of reproach as it attempted to scratch Jaden's cheek.

''Yeah, you're right, no time.''

Without wasting another second, he picked up a rock from the ground and threw it right into one of the windows on the ground floor – well, at least that was the plan.

In actuality, he missed the window by a few inches and instead managed to throw the rock against the frontage of the mansion where it left a denting.

His aim was obviously not the best.

He nervously looked around, scared of someone having heard him, however, when everything continued being quiet, he went to retrieve the rock and made a second, successful attempt of breaking a window with it.

''I swear, if you tell Chazz how I messed up that first attempt, I will never speak to you again'', he warned his duel spirit who seemed a bit too amused by his failure.

He approached the window, carefully removing some of the shards in order to climb in without too much harm done to him.

Of course, he managed to mess that up too, ending up with a long cut on his arm -he really should have gotten his jacket- that was bleeding quite a bit.

 _Other priorities, other priorities,_ he kept telling himself, his body screaming at him to get rest before he could seriously hurt himself.

Where was the thing he was looking for?

Winged Kuriboh had taken the lead again, guiding him through the long hallway which was decorated with family pictures and awards Chazz's brothers had gotten for their stories.

He'd never looked at them, mainly because Chazz never showed him certain parts of his mansion and he was more interested in the dining room anyway, but something about these pictures was off, now that he was right in front of them.

Still, no time to examine that.

Jaden sped up, despite his body's protests, and rushed up the stairs, almost instantly sensing a change in the atmosphere that gave him goosebumps.

There was a massive presence nearby and he didn't like it one bit.

Winged Kuriboh also appeared slightly uncomfortable as it stopped halfway up the stairs, looking back at him for some kind of reassurance.

The brunette couldn't give any, so he drew a breath instead and marched up the rest of the stairs to a room that was ajar, almost as if it had been waiting for him.

He pushed the door open, immediately catching sight of an enormous opened book lying on a desk in the room.

It was emitting something similar to stardust that dissolved into air the closer it got to the door.

Okay. Clearly magic, that much was obvious.

Slowly, he stepped to the desk to inspect the book closer.

The pages from where the stardust was emitting were empty and he took the page between his fingers to turn it, stopping when he felt the presence draw nearer.

It was in the house.

And apparently not happy about the fact that he was here as well.

He backed away from the book to brace himself for whatever was coming for him, but nothing could have prepared him for what actually stormed into the room and pinned him to the ground in an instant.

It was definitely a person, a man, that was holding a sword to his neck, but he... he actually recognized this man.

''Who are you?''

This long, silver hair, the old-fashioned outfit, even the glass shoes he had seen on The Roommate's doll...

''...Cinderella?''

The person's expression changed from hostile to surprised and then to suspicious.

''You know me?''

Jaden nodded, finding no appropriate words to phrase the many questions that were racing through his mind, along with his panic because wow, this guy had a sword and he could kill him right here with it and by the looks of it, he was about to.

Would begging for his life help or should he try explaining what he was doing here?

Either way, his only option was talking, so he opened his mouth, trying to come up with anything to say, only to find that he was speaking all on his own.

''Why are you in Chazz's house?''

God dammit, of all the questions he could have asked, it had to be that one.

The most irrelevant of them all.

To his surprise though, Cinderella withdrew the sword from his neck, examining him almost curiously.

''You know him?''

''Yeah, we're friends'', Jaden answered, smiling slightly. ''I'm here because he's... uh, well, missing and I'm worried about him.''

''I apologize'', Cinderella said immediately, standing up and bringing a reasonable distance between himself and the brunette. ''It turns out we are on the same side.''

Same side? So he wanted to find Chazz too?

''How do we get to where he is?''

''I can bring you to that place, but it's dangerous there and someone has to keep an eye on the book as well.''

Jaden's smile widened and he reached for his phone. ''Oh, I know just the right person to call for that.''

* * *

 **That's the last chapter of exposition (hopefully).**

 **I want to get into the good stuff already, aka completely ruin Chazzy's life.**

 **Not that his canon life isn't already kinda ruined... anyway, until next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Do I even have to mention that I'll be ruining fairy tales for you?**

* * *

''So... you're a guy? Why? And where do you live? Is the prince still a prince or is he a girl? Do you live in his castle? What about your step-sisters? And do you know other people from other fairy tales? Why do you want to help Chazz? And what is-''

Looking back, Cinderella really regretted having admitted to be an ally to this Jaden boy rather than having kept up his mysterious front.

Because once Jaden had gotten comfortable addressing him as 'Cinderella', his hesitant front had fallen and he'd begun asking a thousand questions all at once after they had crossed over into his world – or 'fairy tale world' as Jaden had called it.

It wasn't like his questions weren't justified, but it was pretty hard to answer them if he just kept on asking other ones without even taking the time to breathe inbetween.

Finally, as if realizing his rambling, he stopped, presumably organizing his questions in order of importance, before looking at Cinderella expectantly.

''Where are we going?''

''We have to get something.'' He nodded towards a nearby house, quickening his pace even more. ''And we need to hurry, we're out of time.''

The brunette had difficulties keeping up with the older man's big steps, but did his best not to fall behind too much.

After all, if he got lost here all on his own, there was no telling what would happen.

Even though he actually quite enjoyed the landscape so far and would have gladly taken a rest in the grass they were walking on or under one of the trees they had come across.

But, as always, he had to get his priorities straight.

''Hurry!''

''Yeah, coming!''

He followed Cinderella into the house, having to shield his eyes almost instantly as he noticed an ethereal gleam coming from the corner of the room.

''It sensed the danger...''

With only a few steps Cinderella had made his way over to the source of the light and picked the object up, causing it to stop glowing.

As far as Jaden could tell it was another book, although this one seemed to be older than the one he had seen in Chazz's mansion.

''What is that?''

''This is the Grimoire'', Cinderella explained, opening the book and showing the boy what was inside. Which was just a whole lot of blank pages. ''Normally, all these pages are filled with illustrations, each portraying a different fairy tale.''

He laid a hand on one of the blank pages and Jaden did the same, realizing that the page felt somewhat... hollow. It was like there was something missing in there...

''The pages are a seal for us. As you can guess by looking at them, the seal has been broken, causing everyone to escape. And now they're after Chazz.''

''Why? And where is he?''

The older male looked for a second as if he was about to start explaining, but then simply shook his head, attempting to close the book while Jaden was skipping through the pages.

''Not now, we've already wasted enough time as is and-''

''Hang on'', the brunette suddenly interrupted, pointing at a page he had come across. The one in question still contained an illustration of a fairy tale, Rapunzel to be exact. ''Why is this still here?''

Cinderella was genuinely taken aback for a few seconds before he seemed to understand.

''Of course... She needed some peace and quiet after catching him to avoid the risk of other demons coming by, so she went back into the page...''

Wait, so Chazz was inside that page?

He put his hand on the paper, sensing some sort of presence inside it, much like he had felt Cinderella's presence before being attacked by him.

The only difference was that it was even more intense than last time, suggesting that Rapunzel was either really powerful or...

''Two.''

She wasn't alone.

''Jaden, you said you were close with Chazz, right? Try calling out to him, I think he is more likely to listen to you than to me.''

Collecting himself, Jaden nodded, focusing his thoughts solely on Chazz and trying to establish a connection to him.

If duel spirits could do it, why shouldn't he be able to do it as well?

 _''Chazz?''_ , he asked, hoping the other could hear him somehow. _''Are you there?''_

* * *

Yes, okay, maybe he was scared.

His body was shaking uncontrollably and his breathing had increased so much, he was practically hyperventilating despite nothing having happened yet.

Just some sadistic playing around with the knife, letting its edge trail over his body without actually penetrating the skin, torturing him with the knowledge that it could hurt him severely at any time.

But this person just wasn't doing it, instead taking enjoyment out of his distressed breaths, savoring the moment for as long as possible.

''The harder your heart works, the tastier it will be when I rip it out of your chest'', they explained, answering Chazz's unspoken question what was taking them so long.

He didn't really want to die, at least not by the hands of this random person/creature, but he also didn't want to wait an eternity for them to finish what they started.

Now would be an appropriate time for Jaden to swoop in and save him even if he was still reluctant about the idea of being saved by him yet again.

But right now he didn't have the option to save himself, so the best he could do was wait for some miracle to happen.

 _''Chazz? Are you there?''_

The sudden voice echoing in his head made him jump inwardly.

How in the world..?

''Jaden?!''

He didn't realize he had said it out loud until the knife suddenly stopped moving, hovering over his chest threateningly.

''Jaden? Who is Jaden?''

 _''Listen, it's important! No time for explanations, just trust me!''_

Why was his voice seemingly coming out of nowhere? Was he imagining things?

Well, even if he was, it was worth a shot to try whatever stupid idea he had. It was not like the situation could get any worse anyway.

 _''I'm listening''_ , he thought, just as the person grabbed him by his shirt.

''Answer me! Who is Jaden?'', they asked furiously, making sure to have their knife placed against his skin, the edge making the first cut as it was pressed down.

''Nobody'', he hissed, trying to keep calm in order to understand the instructions that would hopefully follow.

 _''Chazz! Are you okay? Are you hurt?''_

 __Dammit, he'd forgotten Jaden's ridiculously short attention span.

 _''Yes, now shut up and tell me what to do!''_

That was certainly a sentence he'd never expected to hear from his mouth... Then again, it didn't come from his mouth after all...

 _''Yes to which question?''_

 _''JADEN!''_

 _''Okay, okay, stay calm and repeat what I say!''_

''Do we have to cut this little game short? That's a shame, but I guess it can't be helped...''

The cut deepened and started to leak blood, but Chazz barely felt it due to his high adrenaline level which he was grateful for at this time.

 _'' **'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!'** Say it, Chazz!''_

What?

The knife twisted and he screamed, mostly because of his panic, although there was some pain in there as well.

Clearly this wasn't the time to question anything, so he just obeyed, raising his voice as much as he could.

'' **Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!** ''

The effect was instantaneous.

A high-pitched scream sounded from somewhere behind him, followed by the sound of someone running away in a hurry.

His restraints were gone in a second, seemingly having disappeared into thin air and he used his now free hands to shove the person back, taking off into the opposite direction where a bright light had appeared in the dark void surrounding him.

He had to close his eyes as he approached it because of how intense the light was, but kept on sprinting towards it anyway.

There was a slight tug at his body as he crossed through it which he vaguely took notice of before he collided with someone, making them both tumble to the floor.

Not knowing if he should panic again or not, the choice was taken from him when he heard Jaden's familiar, slightly amused sounding voice.

''Woah, easy there...''

Chazz relaxed, opening his eyes and waiting for the world around him to stop spinning.

''What the hell... was that?'', he managed to get out, simultaneously confused and disturbed.

''Our new adventure!'', Jaden exclaimed, laughing. Somebody else he hadn't been aware of before sighed.

''It's not an adventure, it's a serious problem.''

Chazz just looked at this man, unable to make sense of anything.

''Jaden, who the hell is that?''

* * *

 **Done!**

 **If you made it this far into the story, why don't you let me know what you think of it?**

 **Do you like it? Do you want some romance? Are you a fan of fairy tales?**

 **Write whatever and the next chapter will be there 25% faster! It's a good deal, right?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Ask and you shall receive, here's another chapter!**

 **I didn't think I would ever go back to this account, but here we are...**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

''Hey, hold still.''

Jaden huffed as he carefully pressed down the patch he had used to cover up Chazz's wound. It wasn't life-threatening, but that didn't mean they should let it get infected.

It was obvious that Chazz hadn't exactly been comfortable with taking off his shirt in front of Jaden and letting him touch him, but the brunette had insisted to do so and there was only so much he could do against his big brown puppy eyes before he gave in anyway.

There were currently sitting around a dining table in Cinderella's castle, the Grimoire on Chazz's lap who had skipped through the pages a little to distract himself from Jaden touching him and treating his wound.

The idiot took longer than any normal human being would, but finally he was done and the black-haired boy could cover his chest up again with his shirt.

''Thanks'', he said briefly, but Jaden just smiled and went to get Cinderella who had been waiting patiently in front of the door to give them a little privacy.

Chazz didn't really trust him yet, nor did he truly believe the man's claims of being the Cinderella he had read about in the fairy tale, but he was certainly willing to let him explain this situation since he seemed to be the only one who actually knew what was going on.

''I suppose you have a lot of questions'', Cinderella immediately opened upon entering the room, glass shoes making a clacking sound with every step as he approached the table.

Chazz set the Grimoire down on the table, trying to sort out appropriate questions while Jaden strolled through the immensely big and pompous room, looking at every painting on the wall and singing quiet, excited tunes.

To him it was probably all fun and games, he could enjoy his time without the fear of being murdered.

Why did this person even want to take his heart?

Supposing that this was a good way to start, he immediately posed this question to Cinderella who took a deep breath.

Chazz braced himself for the answer.

''Well... Let's start from scratch. You know your brothers travelled through Germany and collected fairy tales, right?''

He nodded. ''Yeah, so? Is that against the law or something?''

''No, but... that's a lie.''

Jaden stopped bouncing around the room and joined Chazz at the table, expression puzzled.

''How is it a lie?''

''They didn't collect these fairy tales, they made a contract with us fairy tale demons.''

He briefly paused and Chazz tensed.

Contract didn't sound good, especially not in combination with his brothers.

They could pretty much turn every contract into whatever was convenient for them through loopholes and get out of it unscathed.

One of the perks of being businessmen, he supposed.

''The contract went as follows. We told them our life stories and in exchange they promised to give us their youngest brother's heart. Which would be yours.''

For a long minute, silence filled the room.

Jaden glanced over at Chazz to notice that his expression was frozen in a weird mix between disbelief and hysteria.

There was an underlying emotion there as well, yet Jaden couldn't quite grasp it as easily.

He guessed it was hurt which was of course understandable considering the situation, so he slowly placed his hand on that of his friend, wanting to give him at least a little comfort.

Chazz, however, didn't seem to notice the touch as he began laughing quietly, having lost all of his composure.

He could have dealt with the contract being exploited in some way and that being the reason he was chased after, but knowing his brothers had willingly agreed to this contract and hadn't even tried to bust im out of it hurt on a whole other level.

''So that's what I am worth to them, huh? Just a bunch of stories! No, even less than that!''

Tears sprang to his eyes. He angrily wiped them away.

''Chazz'', Jaden began, moving closer to give his friend a hug. The black-haired boy pushed him back into his seat rather aggressively, yet Jaden didn't blame him.

''No, it's alright. I'm fine. I always knew they didn't give a shit about me.''

It took another moment to collect himself, but when he did there was a fire in his eyes that immediately succeeded in cheering Jaden up.

Chazz's relentless fighting spirit was remarkable and had always been one of the things that fascinated the brunette about him.

If he had been in this position, he wasn't sure what he would have done, but he'd probably never managed to just casually brush it off like that.

But Chazz was strong and he definitely wouldn't accept this kind of fate without a fight!

''Okay, so this contract has been going on for a long time, right? Why is this only now becoming relevant? And why did you help me if you're one of the demons that want my heart?''

''I know this all sounds very confusing to you'', Cinderella explained, brushing some loose strands of grey hair from his face. ''But there is a perfectly reasonable answer for your questions.''

It was ironic that he spoke about a 'reasonable' answer when everything up until this point had somehow involved strange inexplicable magic, but Jaden was all ears for the explanation anyway.

''First of all, the contract states that you must have reached a certain age before we can... 'collect' your heart. This is why it has never come up until now. As for me helping you... We are on the same side.''

Cinderella paused, a grim expression flashing over his face as he spoke his next words.

''I despise the fairy tale demons, even myself for being one. I want to erase them from existence, seal them back into the Grimoire... but unfortunately, I don't possess the power to do so. However, you, like your brothers, possess this power. The power to tame fairy tales and their demons. If you wish to fight against them, I will do my best to protect you.''

As far as Chazz was aware, he didn't have a choice.

He couldn't exactly cancel the contract himself and even if he left this world somehow, the problem was still his to deal with and the demons would probably just take him in his sleep again, so what was the point?

He might as well try to fix this issue in this world so that everyone else back home was safe.

''I'll do it'', he announced, voice steady with determination.

''Awww yeah, sweetness! Finally something to do besides hanging out at the hospital!''

Jaden was about to start bouncing around the room again when Chazz grabbed his sleeve, forcing him to look at his concerned face.

''You were at the hospital? What happened?''

 _Drugs happened?_

Of course he wasn't going to admit this, but what should he say instead?

He opened his mouth before his brain could come up with something reasonable, about to blurt out the first thing that came to his mind when the door to the dining room suddenly opened all on its own.

A menacing hissing reached his ears and his head snapped towards the door where he could see a massive black shadow entering.

What on earth..?

Chazz's hand went for the Grimoire all on its own while Cinderella already unsheathed his sword, ready to fight.

With a few quick steps, he was in front of the shadow and slashed at it, successfully splitting it in two with the force.

One half let out a wince that sounded like a kicked dog before merging with the other again and lunging at Cinderella, bringing him to fall.

''This shadow...''

Jaden was completely overwhelmed as he stared at it, keeping a safe distance.

He figured he should be scared right now, but for some reason, his body refused to respond to his inner panic.

This was definitely a situation that he hadn't been taught how to cope with in class.

''What fairy tale is it from?''

Chazz directed his gaze towards the shadow, watching it shift into different forms in order to evade Cinderella's attacks while the latter tried shielding the boys from harm and making sure the shadow didn't get to them.

Watching the scene reminded him of something he had heard not too long ago.

 _''I'm a creature of darkness, capable of taking on any form I want.''_

Wait.

 _Wait._

Was this the same thing that had tried to take his heart while he'd been in the page?

This strange horse-like thing with hooves...

That could hiss like a cat...

Wince like a dog...

And change forms like a shadow in the night...

Where had he heard that before?

''Seal the demon, Chazz!'', Cinderella called.

The shadow moved in Chazz's direction, but the other man blocked its path with his sword. ''You know which fairy tale it is! Seal it!''

Chazz opened the Grimoire, letting his instinct handle the rest.

He had no idea how to operate with this thing, but if he truly possessed some kind of power, the book should respond to it, right?

Sure enough, some glitter emerged from the pages and surrounded him with an aura of magic.

He could feel the strange prickling sensation of magic on his fingertips, just waiting to be put to use.

 _He got this._

'' **The four companions who had escaped from the village decided to drive the robbers away. The black night made their shadow look like a monster, but...** ''

The book started to glow and he raised it higher as he shouted his next words.

'' **MAY THE SUN RISE!** ''

A beam of light escaped from one of the pages, hitting the shadow and making it disintegrate into a small ball with two donkey-like ears and a tail.

It shrieked in shock, dashing towards the open door in hopes of escaping its fate of being sealed.

''Quick! Don't let it get away!''

''Gotcha!''

Before Chazz could react, Jaden raced through the room and all but threw the door shut, blocking the exit for the shadow before stomping down on it to keep it on the floor.

The shadow actually let out a whiny sound as if it hurt him, but Jaden made no indication to release it and let it wriggle under his foot.

''So, uh, which fairy tale is it?''


End file.
